Friday, January 3, 2014

Advertising

Sorry, I have to share this with someone since I thought better of posting it to a forum where I generally only lurk. I am old. Don't have much disposable income for entertainment so I make up my own by picking apart advertising--simply pointing out to usually myself how ridiculous the claims are. A young poster, I know the poster is young (under forty) because the photograph was of a very young girl maybe three or four years old, the poster's daughter, that has a 4 month old sibling. The girl was fully dressed with a scowl on her face and holding a rolling pin. A toy kitchen was in the background. It was a very cute photograph of a child mocking an adult behavior. Because of what follows I don't want anyone to get the impression that the photograph was salacious or in bad taste--it was not. The poster mentioned that Pindora's Box software had been used to either change or enhance the background. It really did not make clear how the software had been used. Another poster inquired if the OP thought that the software was worth the money. There had not been a reply from the OP. I was not familiar with Pindora's Box so I Binged it.Pindora's Box is a apparently a compliation of Photoshop actions for controlling or replacing backgrounds and to some degree digital lighting effects. Sounded kind of convoluted but what caught my eye was the claim that the software, which is $350, would pay for itself on the first pinup shoot. I wanted so badly to post the following to the forum but decided against it. Although unintended, it does seem a jab at the person who had just made this investment. However, the last post on the thread was from the forum owner that mentioned that he felt the software was possibly a good investment if you were going to do a lot of pinup. He also mentioned that he only knew of one person that was actually making money with pinup--which really blew my daydream. Here is what I started to post:"K_____, you just shot me down. A $350 investment that says it will pay for itself on the first pinup job. Money and half naked women sounds like an old geezers dream job! I might even consider going commercial for that."I know that somewhere someone is shooting boudoir, pinup, glamor (what ever you want to call it-I could think of some less flattering terms) and making money but a quick look at Craig's list will reveal it is alive and well for free or close to it. I don't even know if Playboy and Husler are still on the magazine racks and if so I am sure they have been joined by many that are even more risque. So someone is selling them photographs but I don't imagine that it is nearly as many as would hope to--hope to long enough to make an investment in what seems to me to be software of questionable value in spite of their hype.

I know, I am as gullible as the next guy and I have fallen for more than my share of unsubstantiated advertising claims simply because I wanted to believe it. But seriously guys--all you want to do is see naked women. You don't need to invest a lot to do that anymore.